Improvement in transfer-sheets for graining



PATENT QFFICE.

FRANK W. LITTELL, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSFER-SHEETS FOR GRAINING.

Specification forming part of letters Patent No. 158,098, dated December 22, 1874; application filed October 3, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. LITTELL, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful means of transferring the grainmarks of wood or other shallow configurations or designs to any surface it may be desirable to ornament in that style, of which the following is a specification:

To this end I first prepare a thin sheet of the following elastic composition, which consists of one pound of good glue soaked in water until perfectly soft. To this add one-half pint of molasses, one-half pint of honey, one pint of glycerine, and a small quantity of beeswax. These ingredients are made quite hot and well stirred together. While hot the mass is to be poured evenly on a smooth cold slab to the depth of about one'eighth of an inch, and before the mass cools a piece of strong muslin or similar material is to be laid upon it, to which it will adhere, and by it may be lifted from the slab when perfectly cold, and trimmed or cut into any desirable size, the muslin backing giving it strength to withstand the frequent handlings it may be subjected to. The face of the elastic material, when lifted from the slab, will be found perfectly smooth, and in that condition is to be operated within the manner hereinafter described. I next take a thick board of any kind of Wood, having upon its surface clearlydefined grain-marks. This board is to be smeared over with any desirable color until its grain-marks are completely charged therewith, when the surplus coloring-matter is to be scraped off and the board rubbed with a rag or other soft substance. The smooth face of the elastic sheet is then to be laid on the board and gently pressed down, when the coloring-matter will leave the grain of the wood and adhere to the surface of the elastic sheet, and that in well-defined marks without spreading. The face of this sheet, while the color up on it is yet undried, is to be pressed upon any object it may be desirable to ornament with an imitation of the wood-grain, which will, in turn, be transferred from the elastic sheet thereto. I

The appearance of these impressions I change as often as may be necessary by planing off the surface of the board, so as to expose another and different growth of the wood after a requisite number of transfers of one kind have been obtained, and thus a multiplicity of prints may be had from one and the same block or board, each varying in design and beauty, yet all being an exact reproduction or imitation of the several portions of the wood.

After using the board, and to keep it in good workable condition for subsequent transferring, it should be washed with some strong lye, which will soften and bring out any coloring-matter that would otherwise be left in the grain, and thereby make it available for taking a stated impression at any other time.

I claim- The compound elastic transferring-sheet, consisting of glue, molasses, honey, glycerine, and bees-wax, in about the proportions set forth, and prepared substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

F. \V. LITTELL.

Witnesses:

J osmn W. ELLs, JONATHAN Onn. 

